Skip to main content

tv   [untitled]    April 6, 2013 12:00am-12:30am PDT

12:00 am
afford it i had to refuse. so, now when you read this ask families we're not going no more anymore. we're being put in the background. we've been here in san francisco. what will it take for are us to listen. we elect you, please help us. don't put us the seniors and the youth in the bagged. we're never mentioned on any of this. the youth look what's happening around us. children where are they going? no more because we can't afford to give them programs.
12:01 am
they do the graph - >> please no outbursts during the preceding. thank you >> good afternoon. i'm with the south market action community network. the youth and family is special youth district is very important to us especially like me a low income family. and an immigrant. there's a shortage of hotel i heard but it is also a lot of things for the low income families for the families.
12:02 am
there's a lot of families that are in shelter in s o r hotel. so why don't we build a low income housing in our youth and family zone. so, please commissioner vote no for this project. thank you >> thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm shaun i've been working there for over 2 years and i believe i vote no against the project so the youth can have positive activities then just hanging out in the streets. thank you >> thank you and a good
12:03 am
evening. first off thank you for continuing this item a few months ago to give the community the opportunity to talk with the developer and also to moving the item to be able to have people speak for themselves. i'd like to say that the community had also opted the project from the beginning unlike the project at filling so on so many and fifth. the community as never asked for specific money to go to any specific groups. there are community needs and when we met with the developer we were educating him why did we go to such extent to have that
12:04 am
in the planning code. and we had asked him to support. if he's going to provide support let it go to our fund. so i just wanted to give you context because only when you expressed that this developer meet with the community they met with us not on their own. and the general plan of tourism is being prioritized but not once did we hear how this is going to benefit the youth and family district. when is our community going to be priority - .
12:05 am
over 20 thousand hotels are in walking distance. according to the san francisco traffic there are 46 thousand and something hotel rooms so adding 2 hundred and 20 again, that's great for tourism but how is that supporting the youth and families that this commission actually vote for. that's why it is important that you continue to support the purpose of the youth and family zone. that's why we're asking you to vote no, because it fails to protect the families health. we want this in the final draft
12:06 am
approval. thank you >> any other speakers on this item? >> commissioners thank you. i'm here with local 2 we represent 95 hundred workers in san francisco. i want to acknowledge the people we count them among your friends and al. right now we're demonstrating outside a hotel the company has fired workings because workers have failed to come back to work after giving birth.
12:07 am
the hotel is currently under construction on just a couple of blocks away the hampton in. and any future hotel will have an opportunity to organize a union without having to demonstrate for years and years and years. i take expectation to the hospitality industry is totally divorce from community and family benefits. i know there are thousands and thousands of workers in those industries.
12:08 am
close to a thousand families have been forced out of their homes because of the industry. the guarantee that this developers make certain that all workers will have the affordable health care to make ends meet in the city the pensions she need to retire in the city and the health issues from the work environments are all crucial. but this hotel is different. this hotel anyway's that workers and their families will have those opportunities. and that's why i'm here today is ask you to vote in support of this project. it does provide some well needed jobs in this community and i
12:09 am
thank you for your time >> thank you. >> good afternoon i'm the executive director of the hotel counsel. tourism is a major industry in san francisco. it brings in money to the general fund. hotels he themselves contribute over 2 hundred millions to the cities general fund which is used for city services. and it supports the grants benefits program. hotels most importantly employes san franciscans. this hotel that's been built employ people that live in san francisco, generations of people who have lived in san francisco and immigrants who have moved
12:10 am
her. and the ability to have another hotel in our city will help people get jobs and also attract more business to san francisco. we had heard the hotel rooms is 33 how rooms. and, yes we've lost business because of our limited number of hotel rooms. and will ultimately be helping san francisco and we're very much in support of this hotel. it helps the economical impact for this city and welcome the people who come to san francisco and spend money. people who spend time in a hotel spend twice as much money while
12:11 am
they're in the city. and that's something to remember. so again, we encourage you to support that hotel and the approval for this hotel to move forward and provided jobs in san francisco. thank you >> hi i'm part of the mobile health center and the free student clinic. i just wanted to point out that my stance is the project is not necessary and desirablely fails to medicate the impact on the neighborhood. the south side of folsom less than 3 hundred feet away it would have to pay an additional
12:12 am
$14 plus in impact fees. so yep nike urge you guys to vote no. and a thank you any further speakers? >> good afternoon. i am living here on fifth street. i didn't have any intention to say something here >> excuse me. ma'am, could you take your hand off the microphone. >> i just want to share this, you know. i have been very emotional about this. i have a very, very hard to get housing here.
12:13 am
i came from hawaii in 1993 expecting that i could have a good american way of living here. the american dream. but i i understand up in an apartment and it's very expensive. i work as a dell i didn't wageer only. your expecting to pay monthly for your bills and the landlords is very strict because they want someone to come in and have bigger rentals. so my expectation is that i will be more american way of living here in san francisco. but what i heard is that i h have heard i had read this obstacle limited housing.
12:14 am
number one where? how much do you pay? how much do you earner to afford that small space for your family? now it is not easy to be thinking ail the time for that expenses the biggest is the housing. now in my experience i was really emotional because i thought i could have as i said but when i heard all these things that everything will be hotel, hotel now somebody told me somewhere oh, i live in san francisco. they say oh, you must be very rich.
12:15 am
i say i am not rich. i was only earning $9 from the hotel before. now for your conscious mr. and miss in this commission i wish you could finally have the conscious. your conscious will tell you that we need housing not hotel. so i'm just emotional i'm sorry. good evening everybody >> thank you your time is up. thank you. any additional speakers? new speakers?
12:16 am
any additional speakers? okay public comment is closes and turning it over to commissioners for comments. >> i think this project is beneficial. first of all, it's not asking for economy exemptions it's 1 hundred and 20 feet in a 1 hundred o will and thirty foot zone. it does have some measures it has to comply with we do have to have a restaurants and bar and it will be much better for the guests. and then the thirty 9 exemptions are very, very poor are the wind
12:17 am
currencies are less than when the hotel was not there. the exceptions are written in such a way if i do not dpish the wind you're still asked to have the thirty 9 expectation for that. the tourist bus loading is a produce of the site where the site has a limited size and so these are minor expectations i don't think are a problem. we do have a shortage of hotels in san francisco and it keeps us from having the bigger conventions. it will bring a lot of jobs.
12:18 am
this project sponsor has a very good knowledge of labor and he know about sick leave and he's in the process of building a hotel on 694 mission which was approved with no continuances no opposition and was very similar to this project. this has no parking so there's no additional impact on the parking lot thing and the project sponsor does give a lot of things out like childcare fund and those are projects we require in san francisco. jobs are created in san
12:19 am
francisco like this otherwise there's no money. so you've got to have projects to do that. a lot of support i mentioned local to and john and the hotel and traffic birthday, san francisco travel. and i do want to ask project sponsor a few questions. durable the continuances i did ask to get involved i was never called for that. by you did hear about some of the things you've offered. i heard you had offered to hire within the neighborhood. i mean, there's local for the construction hiring is dictated but i understand the project
12:20 am
sponsor as made a or offered more jobs >> there will be 80 jobs offered for the hotel. and we offered to hire first from the neighborhood we asked to set up a booth at the location and they equate to about $40 an hour. with pension benefits and health care. so, yes that's correct. and >> and i also heard there was a certain amount of money over a period of time.
12:21 am
>> there was an offer of significant money which enables me to come before you and if the project is not approved if i can get the overhead. i guess it's not very large but it goes up to $1,419,000. i realize that's the enterprise price in the code. there is no metic or code for the conversations we were having with the neighbors and one gentleman said it was about money >> that's any understanding there were some significant
12:22 am
offers in terms of numbers. but you're doing a lot of in terms of what's dictated by the city >> all those numbers are from the studies. and the rules demands quite a bit from developers of housing and commercial buildings so it all adds to helping us with the needs for childcare and our needs from other things it comes down from no where it has to come from someplace. i notice the speakers talked about the open space. and the 24 hour security for seniors. having a vibrant hotel there with guests coming and going and
12:23 am
eyes on the street a lot of neighborhoods suffer from crimes and that activity is a good anticrime measure. it's it's a good looking hotel. >> first of all, i thank everyone for coming out. we were worked with you on the family planning zone and i'm glad you're here. one mistake we made when we passed the family zone is we didn't put a lot of detail in that. so there's no guide around the affordable housing unless their
12:24 am
providing a housing project. that's the challenge we have because we have very few neighborhoods where sdonz it - we couldn't add an affordable fee because the law does not allow us to do that and this puts news the funny position is that we zone the land but not the cost of the land and people ultimately bring before us. we'd love to see affordable housing and we hope to talk to the mayor's office how we can identify sites to have this
12:25 am
through funds that fees are paid into and the mayor's office have private developers work on. you have my commitment to work with you on. in terms of this project and assuming it's a family zone i, i have sat down with supervisor kim's office i understand the frustration but the family zone doesn't really have anything in it to precludes us from supporting this hotel. with the planning code it's a blunt instrument. if you want to say under conditional use here's the standard; right? we have done various codes
12:26 am
there's a metic. for example, if you tear down a building you have to meet the threshold and that does not exist here. the one thing we need to do is look at a process that is important to fame. when we develop a family planning zone we put in childcare and when we look at projects we need to have a way to make this project better for families and we don't have that. i've committed to supervisor kim how we can respond to what we've seen from the community feeling that it's not there yet.
12:27 am
in terms of the issues of hotels there is a challenge in this city in terms of midrange hotels we've seen a lot of hotels do the condominiums and frankly the hotel business see - unless you're doing a mid hotel authenticity not economical. whether times are good or bad so there's a real issue around hotel. by there is too an opportunity around jobs in hotels. the best situation would be that the developer work together and find out how the jobs can benefit the community.
12:28 am
i also think that we want to make sure that our planning information calendar i recognize that kim was frustrated and i want to make sure that the planning staff has information at the counter in the planning zone they can reach out to song kim. they did do outreach in the community being it right or wrong we can rectify that at the planning information counter. but so far as the merits of the project it does provide jobs it is in an area where there is a lot of tourism and it makes sense. if it were across the street it
12:29 am
would be different it doesn't change the project being across the street. but if the project is okay across the street why wouldn't it be okay on this lot. i'm supportive of the project and i'm supportive of lifting up the family zoning. you have my commitment. i don't think it's a zero-sum game. we can benefit the community as a whole and i'm committed to do that. i'm supportive of the project as well >> commissioner wu. >> i want to thank the people who came out today. i think it's important that folks living in the neighborhood and on the